Krishna reads Portuguese minister’s speech at UN

United Nations, Feb 12 (IANS) In a public gaffe, India’s External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna inadvertently read out the speech of his Portuguese counterpart at a UN Security Council meeting here, but quickly corrected it after an Indian diplomat pointed it out to him. Krishna read out Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado’s speech for a full three minutes at a debate Friday on security and development before India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri pointed out the error.

The initial part of the Portuguese minister’s speech related to general issues about the UN, development and security.

Finally, it took a reference to Portuguese-speaking countries to alert Puri, a former ambassador to Brazil, that something was amiss.

“On a more personal note, allow me to express my profound satisfaction regarding the happy coincidence of having two members of the Portuguese speaking Countries (CPLP), Brazil and Portugal, together here today,” Krishna had said, reading verbatim from the initial portion of the Portuguese minster’s speech.

Krishna, said officials, could have said this as Brazil holds the current presidency of the Security Council.